Among the most popular programs appearing on television recently are “contests”, most often pitting one or more of a group of players or contestants against another. Although initially there may be a moderate level of cooperation among one or more of the players, such alliances are short-lived because there can finally be only one “winner” in that type of program structure. Self-interest, scheming, mistrusts, half-truths and sometimes outright lies and treacheries are often the main characteristics of such programs. While these characteristics mimic some of the less professional characteristics of business and of overall American and like societies at this time, emphasizing them repeatedly on TV is arguably not the best direction to take for a medium with such a high degree of influence on values. Besides, one of the major roles of entertainment is to provide respite from everyday; such negative shows do nothing toward that goal.
One glimmer of hope that approached emphasizing what were once the more traditional and kinder American values of friendliness, cooperation, trust and truth first appeared a few TV seasons ago as the highly popular “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”™ quiz show. Since that time, what many viewers consider to be questionable format content and programming/timing decisions have unfortunately reduced the “Millionaire” quiz program to a much lower level of visibility.